The day began with a 6am airport run and a full morning of shopping for Maddie and Stay Home PaPa. Aunt Rachel had an early morning flight and kissed the baby goodbye before departing for the frozen tundra of Homer, Alaska.

Maddie was very restless when we got home, but it was still too early to eat and there was not enough time to take Maddie for a walk. Not exactly a situation fraught with upside.

As I looked for a solution – I realized that there was a great deal of noise and commotion going on across the street and that gave me a very unconventional idea. Perhaps this symphony of noise pollution was just what the doctor ordered. (Whoops – we don’t like doctors right now) Was it even possible that the ruckus across the street might actually be the magic elixir needed to put my little girl at ease and send her off to dreamland? What harm could there be in trying?

With Maddie already in her car seat, I threw the window wide open and let the noise from the street flow in with the cool crisp air. Maddie looked momentarily stunned by all the action coming in from the window. First it was constant beeping of a cement truck backing across the street blocking all lanes of traffic. Then came the blaring car horns emanating from all of those courteous and sensitive Jersey City drivers. Then the erratic rhythm created by two men hammering away at the steel poles being driven into place to support a concrete reservoir.

One look at Maddie told me all I needed to know – this chaos was actually sweet music to her ears. She sighed, smiled and began to drift off to sleep.

Suddenly the deafening drone of a generator kicked on at the same time a traffic policeman began yelling at a defiant driver. Surely this would be too much for the Madster. Wrong again, the little girl was sound asleep; literally hypnotized by the bizarre concert that was beseeching our once peaceful neighborhood. It seems that Maddie is bound and determined to teach me new lessons each and every day. Well played my friend!